ipl-logo

Reflective Essay: Moving To America

499 Words2 Pages

When I ask my friends about my most prominent feature, they always mention my “Britishness”. With my Union Jack Converses and other flag covered items, I understand why. Of course, why wouldn't they comment on that? I am proud of my birthplace, and couldn't think of a better place to call home. Yet being a foreigner, I have faced a few challenges in coming to terms with who I am. Some obstacles are more comical than others, yet they all played a part in me understanding that nationality can’t be wiped away. Moving to America was the biggest challenge I faced in my life. I had to restart my entire existence at the tender age of seven. How could I cope in such a foreign country as America, with its loud people and weird accents? I was terrified. …show more content…

instead I was tossed a red bag of orange triangles that looked completely inedible. I was confused to say the least. It hit me then that although we both speak English, there was still a barrier. School was no better. Although I was adjusting, I became tired of being treated like a parrot, repeating words back while people listened in amazement. However it wasn’t until fourth grade that I understood how strange my accent was. Once my teacher found out where I was from she would make me say “tomatoes grow lovely to my garden” over and over to practically every teacher in the school. I knew she didn’t mean any harm in it, but by the end of the year I was weary of being known as “that British girl”. I therefore decided to hide my identity. Once fifth grade started, I began speaking in an American accent. It wasn’t that difficult and I sounded like everyone else. I stopped telling people where I was from, and became comfortable with this American identity I created. However, I still felt guilty. Although I enjoyed the peace, I felt like I was betraying myself by hiding my

Show More
Related
965 Words | 4 Pages

At a young age, I recognized my private and public identity as discrete from the rest. English as my unknown language with unrecognizable sounds, and as I was to speak English, there was always an audience. I grew up in isolation not being able to express myself like any other American citizen. My cultural background haunted me in a negative way that I became anxious to dominate the English language. I went through enough discrimination to the point that I value the Anti-bilingual Act.

Read More
806 Words | 4 Pages

Being born to parents who speak Chinese, my first language was Chinese. Growing up, I struggled learning the complex language of English. I had to be in ELD, English Literacy Development, class for years and only until I went to middle school, did I not go to ELD anymore. I was relentlessly made fun of for my grammar in school and I was always afraid to bring Chinese food for lunch because I was scared of people making fun of me.

Read More
634 Words | 3 Pages

He came home from school one day, his parents were talking. It wasn’t until after they had switched to English that he realized they had been speaking Spanish. Now you would think having been born to English speaking parents, here in the United States, that I wouldn’t understand a language barrier. Growing up I watched my cousin struggle to communicate with others. He lost his hearing when he was 5 years old.

Read More
942 Words | 4 Pages

I had no idea how to tell her my name, since she did not know English, but I just wrote my name. I was enthralled to see that she nodded her head. She could read English,, but could not speak it or listen to someone else without wavering and being confused. Three years passed, and I was thirteen. It felt as if it would be a tedious amount of time until I reached home.

Read More
471 Words | 2 Pages

Coming to the US for most people, was the best thing to ever happen in their lives. It was the same for me. Until a time in my life slightly changed that, but I still think it profited me and helped me grow tremendously. On my first day in middle, I was so nervous to meet new people that I did not really talk much to people the first couple of weeks. One-day as I was sitting in class doing my work I saw someone look at me

Read More
270 Words | 2 Pages

Leaving Ecuador at the age 14 and coming to New York was the hardest decision I had to make. It wasn’t easy to come to a place where everything is new. The biggest challenge was learning the language. English used to give me a hard time in the school. In high school, I needed to carry a dictionary with me all the time; I took remedial classes and spent hours doing regular homework.

Read More
716 Words | 3 Pages

Richard Rodriguez, author of “Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” grew up speaking Spanish at home for the beginning of his life, and having the great connection with family that most hope for during their lifetime. This all suddenly changed when he entered school. Starting at a young age, Richard was surrounded by all English-speaking people that he could not communicate well with. The only instances where English would be would have been during public outings, and interaction with others. At home, his parents also struggled to speak English making the situation even harder on Richard.

Read More
215 Words | 1 Pages

When I was three years old my mother decided it would be best for us to move to America so we could have better and safer lives. Before I started school, I was sheltered from American culture. I could barely speak English, I only knew hispanic songs, and I only ate “Mexican food.” By the time school started, I felt like an outsider, everyone was speaking in a foreign language and eating odd foods, I felt out of place. It wasn’t until third grade when I began to feel like I was part of my classmates.

Read More
559 Words | 3 Pages

Learning another language was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. Being an immigrant is not easy because I am in a foreign country that is not mine. I came to the States with my younger brother and had to start from the beginning. When I imagined coming to the States, I pictured Hollywood, famous actors, the best fast food, and of course- the “American Dream”. I soon realized that this was only glamorized in movies and far from the truth.

Read More
245 Words | 1 Pages

As a child in a new country where I didn't know how to speak English, It was very terrifying. My family decided to come to the United States for a “better life”. For many immigrants, transitioning can become very difficult. A few weeks into my eighth grade the class,we were assigned a book to read “Flowers for Algernon” and I really enjoyed it. I loved the book, I would read ahead and I would answer every question the teacher has given to the class.

Read More
220 Words | 1 Pages

Moving to America, at 14 years old, was my biggest challenge because I found it hard to adjust to life in a new country. The food was different, the people were hard to understand, the school was strange—it was like another planet. The difficulty fitting in made me miss England constantly, and I found myself longing to return. After a few months of failing to adapt to my new setting, I started to curiously learn about Buddhism.

Read More
889 Words | 4 Pages

“Ding Dong, Flight 6684 to Island County, Washington, USA, has just landed, I repeat, Flight 6684 to Island County, has just landed”. It was all by pure luck that we were moving to Island County, or maybe, it was déjà vu. Previously, traversing around different countries in Asia, I was content and overjoyed to finally venture to a first worst country. My childhood was rough, lingering around people who spoke a multitude of languages that I will never fathom, wearing cultured clothing that I would be embarrassed to express myself in, taking part in local festivals that I had no impulse and desire to engage in, and eating mainland food that I disgusted. My whole life has been a mess, always on the move, from place to place, without the ability

Read More
262 Words | 2 Pages

Taking my very first steps into the United States at 10 years old, I naïvely thought that becoming an immigrant only meant enduring a bumpy plane ride. I was a boy, unaware of the challenging events that would significantly impact my life. Disguised in those events though, were valuable lessons that taught me about overcoming the tides of change. My first time attending a class in the United States, my heart dropped at finding out how significantly behind I was in the curriculum. Compounding to my feeling of alienation and discouragement, were many classmates that found it fun to mock me for my appearance and how I spoke.

Read More
410 Words | 2 Pages

my

Read More
718 Words | 3 Pages

I came to the United States from the Philippines when I was twelve years old. After spending a very short time in Los Angeles, I moved to North Carolina to live with my new parents. My new mother spoke Ilicono, my native language, but my father only knew a few words and phrases. They immediately enrolled me in school, in hindsight, probably prematurely. Since my education in the Philippines was at a religious school that did very little to teach me mathematics or English, I was classified as English deficient and placed in the Doris Henderson Newcomers School.

Read More

More about Reflective Essay: Moving To America

Open Document